Black Cube Ties Evolution's UK Settlement to Court Fight Over Regulator Contacts
The Israeli intelligence firm behind the Evolution dossier argues the UKGC fine and failed Galaxy deal prove its case.
Black Cube has turned Evolution's recent regulatory setbacks into fresh ammunition in their ongoing defamation battle. In a court filing dated 3 August, the Israeli investigations agency argues that the live casino giant's £4.75m settlement with the UK Gambling Commission and its abandoned Galaxy Gaming acquisition confirm the substance of its 2021 report.
The filing specifically targets Evolution's interactions with regulators worldwide. Black Cube is pushing for the court to order disclosure of those communications, a request that has already been denied once this year.
Playtech was revealed as the mystery client behind Black Cube's original dossier last year, as first reported by NEXT.io. That disclosure set the stage for what has become one of the most watched legal disputes in online gambling.
The UKGC settlement came after Evolution allowed games to appear on six sites run by two unlicensed operators targeting the UK market. The regulator considered the breaches serious enough to warrant a licence suspension before agreeing to the financial penalty.
Evolution said the Commission found no wider pattern of its games on unlicensed UK sites. But Black Cube points to the regulator's own conclusions about policy failures as evidence that its original warnings were correct.
The Galaxy Gaming deal collapsed after running out of time for regulatory approvals, including from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Black Cube links this to new NGCB guidance barring licensees from operating in prohibited jurisdictions, a risk NEXT.io first flagged in February.
Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund described the aborted acquisition as having no material impact on operations. The company maintains that neither the settlement nor the deal termination have any connection to the matters Black Cube raised in 2021.
The filing states that extraordinary events in the last two weeks confirm Evolution has not been forthright with the court on matters essential to resolving pending legal motions. It argues the developments show the November 2021 report was anything but a sham.
Evolution declined to comment but confirmed it will file a response in due course. The defamation case has spent most of 2026 tangled in procedural disputes rather than substantive arguments.
For Malta's iGaming community, this case carries real weight. A forced disclosure of Evolution's regulatory dialogues could expose how major operators manage compliance across multiple jurisdictions, potentially reshaping how the industry engages with watchdogs globally.